Press Release

Coimbatore, July 8: Sri Lanka’s Bryan Perera made the most of slightly wet conditions to emerge the star of the day, winning two Euro JK 18 races in the 21st JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship here on Sunday.

Karthik Tharani, who won the laurels in this category on Saturday, however, made a valiant comeback in the fourth and final race to catch up with Perera as Round 1 came to a thrilling finish.

Mumbai’s Nayan Chatterjee stayed right behind the leaders by making the podium thrice on Sunday, grabbing the second place twice and the third place once. Another Chennai racer Ashwin Datta enjoyed a good run, finishing second in Race 4 and third in Race 2 and 3.

In fact, Ashwin Datta has taken top position on the leader-board with 24 points, upstaging Perera and Tharani who have accumulated 23 points. Nayan has 20 points.

The LGB 4 too proved to be a tantalising affair, with Delhi’s Rohit Khanna and Chennai’s Raghul Rangsamy winning one race each. Chennai’s Vishnu Prasad had won Race 1 on Saturday, to produce three different winners in the three races in this category.

Vishnu and Kolhapur’s Chittesh Mandody took the second and third places in both the races to pick up valuable points. Vishnu, however, is ahead on points after Round 1 with 22 in his kitty. Raghul and Rohit have 21 and 17 points.

In the Suzuki Gixxer Cup, Joseph Matthew continued his imperious run, remaining unbeaten over this weekend too. He finished the 10 laps in 14:16.799 minutes, recording his quickest time of 1:23.411 minutes in Lap 6 for his second straight victory.

Syed Muzamil Ali (Bengaluru) and Malsawmdawngliana (Aizawl), who had finished third and second last evening, swapped places in Race 2 to finish on the same number of points.

A carnival-like atmosphere reigned at the Kari Motor Speedway, with a big holiday crowd turning up to enjoy the Race Day. Music, stunts and close races marked the day, as the competitors gunned for glory.

The Ahura Racing team once again were greeted with the loudest cheers, with the five girls in red tackling the wet conditions with elan.

The slippery track didn’t deter them, leading to a series of photo-finishes in all the categories. Bryan Perera recorded the day’s fastest lap in Race 3, taking just 1:00.279 minutes in his Euro JK 18 car.

JK Tyre has always been closely associated with the world of sports. Almost three decades back the company laid down a long term and sustained approach to promote Motorsport. Participating in this form of the sport has helped the company in continuously updating its products to meet the challenges of gruelling Indian conditions. The sport at that time in India was perceived for elite but JK Tyre took upon itself to package and redesign the sport to suit the masses. The company not only made the sport affordable but also equivalent to International operating standards. JK Tyre’s foray into Motorsport was a well thought out strategic decision to not only use and develop this virgin branding platform but also to realize the dreams of making India a force in the field of motor sport.

In 2011, the company acquired the Formula BMW Series and rechristened it as the JK Racing Asia Series (JKRAS). With this acquisition, JK Tyre created history in Indian Motorsport by becoming the first Indian company to acquire an FIA accredited series. By taking over the series, JK Tyre promises to utilize it as a platform to encourage and support the world’s best racing drivers and promote India as one of Asia’s motorsport capitals.

Thus, JK Tyre has conquered two steps in the motorsport program where the new racing aspirants first establish themselves in

India, then graduate to Asian level i.e. to Formula BMW, which is now JKRAS and then they move to higher levels of racing. JK Tyre now stands closer to achieving its mission of bringing world-class motorsport to the Indian masses. The Racing and Karting programme by JK Tyre has been the breeding ground for the country’s motorsport talents like Narain Karthikeyan, Armaan Ebrahim, Karun Chandhok, Aditya Patel and other emerging talent.

Another pioneering initiative was the launch of the Truck Racing Championship in India in partnership with Tata Motors. The company developed & designed “JetRacing”-the new generation truck racing tyres especially for this application. With this, JK Tyre became the first tyre company to produce truck racing tyres in India. The combination of the Prima trucks fitted with Jet Racing received an overwhelming response from participants and has definitely brought in a revolution in the Indian racing scenario.

The JK Tyre Himalayan Drive 7, India’s only international TSD (Time, Speed, Distance) rally, ended on an intense, patriotic note late on Saturday, with the participants paying homage to the martyrs of the Pulwama terror strike and the winners dedicating their victories to the country’s armed forces.